Does your financial institution deliver the customer service you expect? Does the loan officer know your name? And what about the teller you see twice a week?
Better yet, does your bank provide convenience services so you don’t need to take valuable time away from your business to battle traffic and wait in line to make simple deposits?
“Service is soup to nuts, from how you are treated to the ancillary services the bank offers,” says Darlene Nowak-Baker, executive vice president and lending manager with First Place Bank.
Test your bank’s accessibility with this service litmus test: Look up your bank and check out the phone number. Is the listing a direct line to your local bank, or an 800 number that most likely links to a customer call center and not the location down the street from you?
“Many banks today have a centralized number you call, and it’s difficult to talk to the person you deal with on a day-to-day basis unless you happen to have his or her business card,” Nowak-Baker says.
Smart Business spoke with Nowak-Baker about the characteristics that service-oriented banks share — qualities that you’ll want to make sure your bank has.
What are the bare-bones basics of service that business owners should check before working with a bank?
You can break down service into two areas. First is the people part. Whether business owners manage small, medium or large companies, they want to walk into a bank and have people know them. They want loan officers and other key personnel to know their accounts and to be knowledgeable about their businesses. Second are ancillary services, such as convenient banking hours, Internet banking and even courier service.
But above all, the staple in service is how the individuals in your branch treat you. Personnel should return phone calls promptly, be knowledgeable about products, and if they don’t know the answers, they should be helpful in directing you to the appropriate person to address your needs.
Now that so many of our financial transactions are electronic, what value does personal contact provide?
Growing businesses really need to have a partner who understands their business. You want to be able to build relationships with people in an organization so that they will identify your evolving financial needs as your business grows.
If the only point of contact for a business owner is the loan officer, often service in banking can get lost. You should have an opportunity to interact with a more senior person in the organization in addition to your loan officer and your local branch staff.